Formable gas burner



y 9, 1964 P. M. PAPPAS FORMABLE GAS BURNER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb.15, 1960 Pfi//// 0 M Pap 0 a:

INVENTOR.

y 9, 1964 P. M. PAPPAS FORMABLE GAS BURNER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb.15, 1960 INVENTOR.

P/v/h o M Papa 0 ad i Airwa s May 19, 1964 Filed Feb. 15, 1960 P. M.PAPPAS FORMABLE GAS BURNER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Pfi//// o M Pop 00oINVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,133,588 FURMABLE GAS BURNER Phillip M. Pappas,2313 Bonnet, Houston, Tex. Filed Eels. 15, 1969, Ser. No. 8,761 4Claims. {Cl 153-39) This invention relates to an atmospheric type of gasburner. This type of burner employs a venturi mixer before the entranceto the burner Where primary air is mixed as the jet of gas emitting froma small hole or orifice draws air through openings in the face of themixer and the gas is mixed with said air and enters into the burner andemits from the burner holes or ports where it is ignited. This type ofburner is very adaptable to utilize the various types of gases such asmanufactured gas, mixed gas and liquefied petroleum gases. In burningsuch gases only a change in orifice size and primary air opening isrequired to support good combustion. Atmospheric burners are used inranges, water heaters, ovens, broilers, furnaces, heaters and many otherappliances. In these uses they are generally supplied of cast ironconstruction with drilled or slotted burner ports. While said cast ironburners are relatively inexpensive and durable in their raw form, theyare expensive to drill and machine as the round or slotted burner portscannot be cast to the tolerance required at reasonable costs and hencesame must be machined or drilled after the casting is completed.Further, said cast burners are necessarily of fixed size andconfiguration and necessary pattern equipment to cast such burners isexpensive. equipment is required for each different shape or size andcapacity of burner. A further limitation of cast burners is their heavyweight as the walls of such castings must be a minimum of approximately-inch thickness in order to prevent blow-outs and losses in the castingprocess. The resulting heavy cast iron burners require extra heavy andrigid mountings and supports built into the appliance in which they areused to prevent damage to said appliance during transit as burners havebeen found to have a hammering action in transit by truck or rail andunless securely and rigidly mounted the hamrnering action will causedamage to the appliance. The heavy weight of the burners and theirassociated support structure also increase transportation costs.

Further, electric strip type of heaters have long had considerableadvantage over gas heating in many applications because the electricstrip heaters have flexibility, light weight, comparatively low costplus easy and simple insta lation. This versatility and adaptability ofelectric strip type heaters has caused them to be utilized in many areasfor many heating applications even though the energy cost of operatingprevailing in said areas may be considerably higher than gas heatingfuel costs to accomplish the same job.

With these factors in mind, I have invented a new type of atmosphericgas burner which is flexible, light weight, long lasting and requires noexpensive machining, no expensive pattern equipment for each differentsize or configuration, nor does it require heavy rigid mountings andassociated structure. Further, my light weight, flexible burner will befurnished appliance makers, gas companies and others who have use forburners in a continuous roll coil form or in long lengths so that theuser may cut whatever length or" burner he may need to perform a givenfunction and may then easily coil it into a spiral form, or form it intoa rectangular or square form, or a serpentine form, or make whateverform suits his purpose best and easily install it as the strip type ofgas burner I have invented will also be supplied with an associated airmixer venturi to insert and attach to the entranceway of the burnersection as well as an associated rear plug to close I v I n In addition,a set of SEllG pattern 3,133,588 Patented May 19, 1964 'ice the end ofthe burner and with associated clamps to attach said air mixer venturiand said rear plug to said strip burner. Also, suitable associatedmounting supports will be furnished with the coiled or long lengths ofthe strip burner.

These and other objects are effected by the invention as will beapparent from the following description and claims in connection withaccompanying drawings forming a part of this application in which:

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a square shaped strip burner of myinvention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of a ring or spiral shaped strip burner ofthe invention.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of a serpentine shaped strip burner of theinvention.

FIGURE 4 is a top sectional view taken along the line 4- of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 5 is a front elevation of the burner section in FIGURE 4 lookingalong line 55.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of one-half of the clamp member.

PlGURE 7 is a perspective view of the rear insert plug of the stripburner section.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of the T type of mounting bracketutilized to support the strip section and keep same in a fixed position.

FIGURE 9 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the method of formingthe burner sections.

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged top plan view of the strip burner section.

FIGURE l l is an enlarged front elevation of the strip section takenalong the line 1ll1 of FIGURE 10.

FIGURE 12 is a perspective View of a variation of the strip burnersection.

Referring to the drawings in detail:

FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 show the strip burner sections and square, spiral andserpentine configurations respectively. Gas supply is provided by gaspipe 1 and same is injected through gas orifice 2 into the venturi mixer4 with adjustable air shutter 3 controlling primary air for propercombustion. Venturi mixer 4 is slideably inserted into and clamped tothe strip burner section 7 by means of two clamps 5 with associatedbolts 6. End plug 8 is slideably inserted into and clamped to the endsof strip burner sections 7 by means of two clamps 5 with associatedbolts 6 attaching same. It will be seen that after the primary air ismixed with the gas in venturi mixer 4 the combustible mixture passesthrough the strip burner section 7' and is ignited at each port or hole23 formed in the upper portion of the strip burner sections. A burnerpilot light, not shown, is provided to ignite the combustible mixtureemanating from ports 23.

FIGURE 4 is a top sectional cutaway view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE5 showing burner orifice 2, adjustable air shutter 3, venturi mixer 4,clamp members 5 attaching venturi mixer 4 to strip burner section 77A bymeans of bolts 6 and nuts 9. End plug 8 is attached to the end of thestrip burner 7-'7A in a like manner by means or" two clamp members 5attached by bolts 6 and nuts 9. It should be noted that the dotted linesshowing the bottom portion of the strip burner section have two verticalmating one-half round formed portions 11 and HA in the same relativeposition as the formed ports at the top portion of the burner. Theseone-half round mating formed portions 11 and 11A and the parallelstraight edges between are continuously joined together along the bottomportion of the burner.

FIGURE 5 is a front elevation taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 4. Gasenters through hole 16 in orifice 2 which is held in place by screw 15.The injection of the gas draws primary air through openings 12 and 13into the venutri mixer 4. The air openings 12 and 13 are adjustable toprovide for various types of gases and B.t.u. ratings by means ofslideable air shutter 3 which is held in a fixed position by tighteningscrew 14 which is threaded to the face of venturi mixer 4.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged perspective view of clamp member showing angleflange 17 with bolt hole 18. The top and bottom vertical portions ofclamp member 5 have one-half round formed portions 19 and 19A which keepsaid clamp members in a fixed relation with ports 23 at the top and themating one-half round formed portions 11 and 11A at the bottom of saidstrip burner section, thus providing rigid attachment of venturi mixer 4and end plug 8 to the strip burner sections.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged perspective view of end plug member 8 showingflanges 43 provided with holes 44 which align with hole 18 of clampmembers 5 of FIGURE 6. A radiusd inverted V portion 45 is provided atthe top and bottom center of the end plug 8 to provide for a gas-tightslide fit of this portion of the end plug into the strip burner section.Similar radiusd inverted Vs are provided on the exterior top and bottomcenter of venturi mixer 4 where same slide fits into the front of stripburner section as shown in FIGURE 5. These radiusd inverted Vs providedon the slide fitted front air venturi mixed and on the rear slide fittedend plug insure their being gas-tight so that the combustible mixtureemanates only from ports 23.

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged perspective view of mounting member 21 for thestrip burner sections and same is provided with two mounting holes 21 tobolt same in place. One-half round formed portion 22 permits the lowerone-half round mating portions 11 and 11a of the strip burner sectionsto slide into the narrow opening 46. It will be noted that several ofthe members 29 can be employed to mount the strip burner sections andsupport same in a relatively fixed position yet permit easy removal ofsaid strip burner sections by simply lifting same upward. Americal GasAssociation specifications on many appliances require easily removableburners and these support members provide for same.

FIGURE 9 shows a top diagrammatic view of the roll forming and weldingmachine for making and coiling the strip burner sections. The stripburner sections are made from two strips of thin gauge material,preferably stainless steel as same will not rust away nor corrode andwhile relatively expensive per pound the thin gauge and light weight ofthe burner provides for relatively inexpensive stainless steelconstruction. The thin gauge metal strips 28 and 28A will feed in fromspools or coils 2626A which rotate on shafts 2727A into female roll fromdies 2929A rotating on shafts 303t A. The male roll form dies 33-33Adriven by shafts 34- 34A follow the form of one-half of the strip burnersection with the male protrusion 35-35A mating into the female sections3131A of the female roll from 29-29A, thus forming the strip burnersections 77A. The center portion of the roll forming dies also formspleats -10A and the lower portion of the roll form dies form the lowerone-half round portions 1111A at the same time so that each side of thestrip burner section is completely formed when same emits from the rollforming dies. Idler guide rollers 3636A rotate on shafts 37-37A andguide the two formed strip burner sections into the rotating resistancewelding rollers 38 38A rotating on shafts 3939A. Said resistance weldingrollers are of copper alloy to carry the welding current and the outerperipheral portions press and weld together the strip burner sectionsbetween the holes or ports 23 at the top of the burner sections andcontinuously weld the two strips 1111A together at the bottom of theburner sections. The finished burner is then coiled onto spool or coil41 driven by shaft 42. It will be noted that if straight lengths arerequired a long A. straight run-out table will be provided rather thancoil 41.

It will be seen that this roll forming and welding machine is capable ofproducing a continuous quantity of thin-wall, light gauge gas stripburners completely formed, welded and with the necessary ports closelyspaced for maximum B.t.u. rating for foot of length and that same isaccomplished with a minimum of labor, material and finished weight. Itshould be further noted that by merely changing the rotating forming andwelding dies and substituting others on their respective rotating shaftsstrip burners of varying internal gas-carrying area can be supplied tomeet different requirements.

FIGURE 10 shows the top view of a section of the formed and welded stripburner, the two sections 77A having accordion type pleats formed at10-10A along their center portion with formed one-half round portions 24and 25 providing round openings and ports 23 along the upper portion.

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged front view of strip burner section showing theformed accordion type pleats 10 along the center section, the formedone-half round portions 25 along the upper section and the inward formedonehalf round portions 11 along the lower section. Althrough these lowerone-half round formed portions 11 do not form parts or openings as theopopsing side of the strip burner section is formed in the samedirection same are nonetheless desirable as they use approximately thesame amount of the strip material per foot of finished burner section asthe openings or ports 23 along the upper section and this prevents thestrip material from wanting to climb or bend upward when it is beingformed. Also, the accordion pleats 101A help in utilizing approximatelythe same amount of the strip material per foot of finished strip burnersection thus further aiding in the forming process. In addition, theformed accordion pleats add to the flexibility of the burner as samepermit bending of the thin gauge strip burner sections to a tight radiuswithout same collapsing or restricting the internal passageway in orderto form various configurations of burner shapes as shown in FIGURES l, 2and 3 and as would be required in various types of variations.

FIGURE 12 shows a perspective view of a variation of the strip burnersection. This variation would provide ports or holes 23 emanating fromboth the upper and lower portions of the strip burner section asone-half round formed portions 24 and 25 would be formed in oppositedirections at both the upper and lower edges of the burner sections.Strip burner sections of this type could be utilized in clothes driers,for example, as said burner could be easily formed to encircle the drierdrum and provide uniform heat completely around same.

I claim:

1. A gas burner comprising a substantially rectangular shapedpassageway, said passageway being formed along its entire length fromtwo thin strips of metal having their central portions formed withlateral longitudinally extending recesses and having laterally extendingedges and of a length dependent only upon the length of said metalstrips with each strip forming substantially half of said passageway,said two strips with both their edge portions continuously flangedoutward from said passageway, said flanged edges being joined togetheralong their lengths and provided with a plurality of half rounddepressions extending perpendicularly from said flanged edges and fromtheir outer edges, said depressions on at least one side of said burnercooperating to thereby provide tubular exits from said passageway, saidstrips being formed along their lengths with spaced transverse inwardlypressed corrugated portions, said passageway adapted to provide varyinglengths of gas burners with gas venturi mixer means affixed at one endand rear closure means provided at the other end of said burner section.

2. A gas burner as in claim 1 with said tubular exits from saidpassageway on both sides of said burner section.

3. A gas burner as in claim 1 with said transverse inwardly pressedcorrugations thereby providing suflicient flexibility for hand bendingof said burner sections into difierent shapes or configurations.

4. A gas burner as in claim 1 with one of said strips having one of saidflanged edges formed With a plurality of half round protrusionsextending perpendicularly from said flanged edges and from their outeredges, said protrusions cooperating on the other side of said burnerwith said depressions of said flanged edge of said opposed strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 HahnMay 26, 1936 Stookey June 7, 1949 Miller Feb. 13, 1951 Sosaya May 13,1952 Campbell Jan. 26,1954 Van Pappelendam May 22, 1956 Spott Jan. 28,1958 Jackson et a1. June 24, 1958 Huifaker Sept. 9, 1958 Hahn Oct. 7,1958 Sabel Nov. 29, 1960 Rutter Oct. 16, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS GreatBritain of 1911 Great Britain Jan. 14, 1953

1. A GAS BURNER COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR SHAPEDPASSAGEWAY, SAID PASSAGEWAY BEING FORMED ALONG ITS ENTIRE LENGTH FROMTWO THIN STRIPS OF METAL HAVING THEIR CENTRAL PORTIONS FORMED WITHLATERAL LONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING RECESSES AND HAVING LATERALLY EXTENDINGEDGES AND OF A LENGTH DEPENDENT ONLY UPON THE LENGTH OF SAID METALSTRIPS WITH EACH STRIP FORMING SUBSTANTIALLY HALF OF SAID PASSAGEWAY,SAID TWO STRIPS WITH BOTH THEIR EDGE PORTIONS CONTINUOUSLY FLANGEDOUTWARD FROM SAID PASSAGEWAY, SAID FLANGED EDGES BEING JOINED TOGETHERALONG THEIR LENGTHS AND PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF HALF ROUNDDEPRESSIONS EXTENDING PERPENDICULARLY FROM SAID FLANGED EDGES AND FROMTHEIR OUTER EDGES, SAID DEPRESSIONS ON AT LEAST ONE SIDE OF SAID BURNERCOOPERATING TO THEREBY PROVIDE TUBULAR EXITS FROM SAID PASSAGEWAY, SAIDSTRIPS BEING FORMED ALONG THEIR LENGTHS WITH SPACED TRANSVERSE INWARDLYPRESSED CORRUGATED PORTIONS, SAID PASSAGEWAY ADAPTED TO PROVIDE VARYINGLENGTHS OF GAS BURNERS WITH GAS VENTURI MIXER MEANS AFFIXED AT ONE ENDAND REAR CLOSURE MEANS PROVIDED AT THE OTHER END OF SAID BURNER SECTION.